FN2 Rear Rotors & Brake Pads Replaced at 30K - normal?

[drewh]

Hi all,

Had my 2011 Civic Type R from new and absolutely loved it. Put it in for the 40K service today and was told I need new rotors on the rear as well as new rear brake pads. The rotors especially were surprising as I've only done 32K and I rarely brake hard - I'm pretty smooth with using the gears and going lightly on the brakes the majority of the time.

When have others had this done out of interest?

Also last service (30K one) was done about 15 months ago and car has done 15K since then. I was told they were 60% on back and 50% on front. Now this service, rear pads need replacing and fronts down to 30%. This all sounds a bit wrong???!

The dealership here Southside Honda is widely regarded as the best in Brisbane and has won awards years running as best dealership Aus wide so I wouldn't expect them to do anything shady.


Thanks
Andrew

 

[Chris.]

Does the car have traction control or not?

 

[drewh]

Yeh it does & basically never been turned off

 

[Chris.]

I'm pretty sure TC is linked with high rear bake wear due to the way the system works. Have a search, I'm pretty sure it's come up before.

 

[Loxy]

It's a trait of VSA. It brakes the rear wheels independently to stop you spinning the car when transitioning from one direction to another (think Scandinavian Flick). This wears the rear discs and pads pretty quickly and 30,000 (miles) is pretty reasonable to be honest if you regularly drive aggressively.

It could be a symptom that your geometry isn't set optimally and the rear is a bit loose so the car is having to step in to intervene. You need shims to adjust the camber and toe on the FN2 because of the torsion beam, but it may be worth considering to stabilise the rear. If you are also using poor tyres, the VSA will intervene more to keep the rear in check.

I fitted an LSD to my car and the VSA was constantly fighting the yaw forces, so it became part of my startup procedure to press the VSA button to turn it off. I never had a spin out, but I guess the potential was there with it disabled, though I did have the geometry properly set up.

 

[drewh]

Thanks Loxy & S2KIP for the info, super interesting stuff. I don't break hard often at all, but definitely do drive aggressively / spirited (why own a CTR otherwise?!). That includes a lot of driving hard through corners or twisted roads, where VSA would no doubt work overtime. I've only seen the VSA light flash once going around a roundabout in very wet rain. My CTR has an LSD, the first ones didn't have it - so that would only add to it right?

I wonder if I should try driving with it off just to see, in a very controlled & safe way to see how the car responds. Re the fine tuning the suspension geometry, would I go to a suspension place (we have Pedders here in Aus)?

 

[Loxy]

On the cars that had an LSD as standard, the VSA program was relaxed to take the LSDinto account, but the program still brakes the rear wheels to keep the rear in check. The flashing light you would have seen coming off the roundabout would have been the traction control aspect of the VSA program working. I found quite often the VSA light wouldn't light up when it was performing its anti-yaw duties, probably because it would be lit a lot if you are on the twisties and like trailing the brakes into bends! :lol:

Have a word with your suspension place. In the UK we tend to use Honda specialists like Tdi-North, Grinspeed, TGM etc who do that sort of thing over and over. Basically, the process is to measure the geo with the car as it is and then order the shims in that would be needed to set the car up properly (the places above carry stock), take the rear hubs off and put the shims on to change the toe and camber accordingly. You would also do the front with camber bolts at the same time (toe is done from the track rod ends on the front, but camber needs adjustable bolts).

If your place is happy to do that, then crack on. Typical settings for road use are here: http://type-r-owners.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?22184-Suspension-for-beginners

 

[drewh]

Thanks Loxy soz for the delay. You're a walking encyclopedia on CTRs mate. I will look into that re suspension tuning, Pedders aren't Honda specialists perhaps I should ask the dealership who they might recommend. I need to replace the front tyres soon so would do the tuning after that (rear tyres are pretty good so obv they didn't contribute much). Will def try driving a bit without VSA just to see how the car handles, in normal driving I def haven't seen the light flash except that one time prob or a few others.

 

[Bonito]

Would a dealer be able to reflash VSA settings after installing an LSD on a non-lsd car?

 

[Loxy]

Would a dealer be able to reflash VSA settings after installing an LSD on a non-lsd car?

They won't because it is calibrated for the Honda LSD, you then fit your own LSD that might behave differently. You then have an accident because of the VSA program and Honda are liable.

The question was asked of several dealers back in 2010 when I fitted my LSD. Dealers refused and then later Honda UK refused to let the dealers do it.